Firebrand
by Okita-san Daishouri
Summary: This is not what 「we」 wanted. This is not 「our」 world. 「We」 wish to rest. And yet I can't. 「Our」 blood boils in indignation at the inequity. Ah, well...「It can't be helped.」 [OC-insert] (Deadfic)
1. I

**Obligatory Author's Note about the ownership of this work's source material:** I don't own _Naruto_, the various _Fate/_ works, or any of the myriad properties I am bound to end up referencing with varying degrees of subtlety.

* * *

His left eye wouldn't open. Why wouldn't it open? He wasn't blind, he could see the roof of the cave above him just fine, but only out of his right eye. Firelight made the shadows dance across its uneven surface.

"Hey, you."

His working eye flicked over toward the voice. The speaker was a girl, maybe a couple years older than him, seated on the far side of the fire. She had long, _long_ black hair that pooled loosely on the ground behind her. With her clear, pale skin and fine features, he almost mistook her for another Uchiha. Her eyes, a dark, bloody red, put paid to that idea.

She grinned, wide and amused. "You're finally awake."

He shifted, intending to sit up properly. She was at his side immediately, almost before the thought had finished crossing his mind.

"Don't move," she demanded, her hands gentle in their pressure, but no less implacable for it. "You're in a _really_ delicate place right now, and I will be very cross if you undo all my hard work bringing you back from the dead." She smiled, sounding very pleased with herself.

He tried to speak. His throat felt like sandpaper. It took him a couple of tries before he managed to get out, rough and subdued, "…the dead?"

She made a noise of happy agreement, speaking as she reached for something behind her. "I mean, you weren't _all_ dead, just _mostly_. There's a difference, you know."

The 'something' turned out to be a canteen. Some subconscious instinct clamped his mouth shut and made him shy away when she tried to offer its mouth to him, even as he recognized that she'd gone to too much trouble keeping him alive to kill him now. She didn't seem offended, giving an amused huff before taking a swig herself and offering the canteen again.

He drank eagerly. The water was lukewarm, and had that metallic tang that meant it'd been too long in the canteen. It was the best water he'd ever tasted. He licked his lips and spoke again. "…difference?"

Putting the canteen back, her smile brightened into a full grin. "Yup! There's only one thing you can do with _all_ dead, after all." There was a sense of anticipation about her. Was she expecting him to ask what that 'one thing' was?

"…what?" So sue him, he was genuinely curious.

She snickered. "Go through their pockets and look for loose change!" she blurted gleefully, uproarious laughter following almost immediately on the heels of her words. It was loud, self-satisfied, and sounded just a little mad.

His mouth twitched, more at her obvious cheer than amusement at the joke itself. It was a little funny, but not that much. There was clearly some kind of story behind it, maybe it'd be funnier if he knew the context. His eye (_why wouldn't his left one open?_) fluttered, and he took a deep breath. He felt… so tired. It took him a second to focus back on her, and when he did her smile had softened.

"You're still pretty drained, is that so?" She sounded irrepressibly cheerful, even as she spoke in a low voice. "I'll leave you to your rest." She stood, brushed some dirt from the knees of her loose, dark pants, and walked away.

Uchiha Obito was asleep even before she'd settled back, cross-legged, on the far side of the fire.


	2. II

**This update speed isn't going to be a pattern or anything, I just figure y'all deserve more than six hundred or so words for a proper start.**

* * *

_He is a soldier, _「I」argued.

_He is a __shinobi__,_ 「I」gleefully corrected 「myself」.

_He's a kid!_ I protested, not for the last time.

_「__I__」__think all of them are children, _「I」shot back, but there was no real heat behind 「my」words.

_Because they are! _

**_E__nough__._**「We」fell silent as 「I」spoke. **_T__his was already discussed__. H__e has necessary information__. H__is fate was not part of that__. __「__We__」__will burn that temple when__「__we__」__get to it__._**

_Bridge. __「__We'll__」__burn that bridge when __「__we__」__get to it._

**_That is what I __said._**

Before I could even begin to ask who 「I」thought 「I」was fooling, the object of 「our」discussion woke up. He looked like a mummy, so shrouded in bandages, but I was pretty confident he was frowning as he blinked up at the cave roof. Maybe he was wondering where his eye went. I know 「we were」certainly curious about that. "Hey, you."

He blinked twice before his eye flicked over to me, sitting on the far side of the fire, and I couldn't help grinning as I completed the meme. "You're finally awake." _You were trying to cross the border, right? Walked right into that Imperial ambush, same as us…_

「I」sniggered. 「I」rolled 「my」metaphorical eyes. He blinked again, before shifting, probably trying to sit up or something. In a flash, I was hovering over him, trying to hold him down without aggravating his injuries.

"Don't move," I ordered, "You're in a _really_ delicate place right now, and I will be very cross if you undo all my hard work bringing you back from the dead."「We were」very proud of that achievement, and rightly so. The energy of this land was strange, and 「we」hadn't been at all certain「my」idea would work. 「I」was too scary for 「us」to admit that, though.

**_Coward._**

"…the dead?" Jeez, he even sounded like a mummy, with how crackled his voice sounded.

I umu'd. To my everlasting chagrin (and 「our」amusement at my embarrassment), I actually umu'd as I reached for the canteen, strapped to the outside of the pack I'd… tactically acquired.

_Stole._「I」complained.

**_Spoils of war. _**「I」justified.

An idea came to me, and I gladly indulged it. I'd already made a Skyrim reference, why not a Princess Bride? I mean, the joke was _right there_. Low-hanging fruit and all that. "I mean, you weren't _all_ dead, just _mostly_. There's a difference, you know."

He seemed to be trying to get away from the canteen without moving, which was kinda funny, if a little confusing. His throat had to be killing him, didn't he want a drink?

_He is shinobi, _「I」pointed out, amused. _Take a drink first, then offer him the canteen again._ With my own amused huff, I swallowed some of the water before extending it again.

_Of course, __「__we__」__could have poisoned the water with something__「__we are__」__already immune to._ 「I」couldn't help throwing in「my」two cents.

_Not helping, _I groused.

**_And illogical._** 「I」agreed. **_「_****_We_****_」_****_went to great pains keeping him alive, why kill him now?_**

He licked his lips after I pulled the canteen away and let out a contented sigh before he spoke again. "…difference?"

I was grinning as I put the canteen back. 「We」had all my memories, after all, and knew where this was going. Even「I」was feeling amused. "Yup! There's only one thing you can do with _all_ dead, after all."

"…what?"

"Go through their pockets and look for loose change!" 「We」couldn't have kept 「ourself」from laughing if 「we」tried. I was aware I was probably overreacting to the joke, but it felt… relieving. It felt right. He smiled, so at least he found it a little bit funny. He was also flagging pretty hard, judging by how hard he was fighting to keep his eyes open.

"You're still pretty drained, is that so?" Oh, for fuck's sake. God damn verbal tic. 「I」giggled. "I'll leave you to your rest."

He was asleep almost immediately.

_「__We__」__forgot to ask him what his name was,_ 「I」piped up as I settled back by the fire.

Palm, meet forehead. I knew I'd forgotten something.

* * *

Days passed. 「Our」guest only woke up long enough to drink some water and force down some broth, and one extremely uncomfortable occasion where I had to support him as he took a leak against the cave wall.

I was _not_ about to sacrifice my only pot as a bedpan, god damn it.

And of course, there was the never-ending internal debate about what to do with him. Of course, in「our」case, the debate was a bit more _literal_, but it can't be helped.

「I」snickered. It took a moment to process what I'd just thought, and then I started banging my head against the wall. 「We」reacted immediately, admonishments and apologies overlapping unintelligibly as「we」tried to get me to stop.

_**S**__**TOP THIS AT ONCE**__**!**_「I」roared, silencing 「us」and making me flinch. _**T**__**HIS IS UNBECOMING OF**__**「**__**US**__**」**__**!**_

I sank to my knees, my head resting against the wall. My chest felt crushed by iron bands. My breath hitched in my throat. My face felt hot and I couldn't stop the tears staining my cheeks. 「We」didn't understand. 「We」had always been part of 「Me」, but _I _hadn't, and it scared me how much of _me_ had been lost to 「Me」.

"Um, excuse me?" The voice of「our」guest pulled me out of 「My」head. I turned, still leaning against the cave wall, just enough to look over at his pallet.

「We」could read his concern even through the bandages. "Hey, lady… are you okay?"

「I」bristled at being seen in such a compromising state, but 「we」didn't really care at this point. I sniffed, pushing myself up and off the wall. "Yeah…" Furiously, I tried to brush the tears off my face, which just seemed to make it worse. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'll be fine. Totally fine. Everything is fine." If I said it enough times, that'd eventually make it true, right?

The look in his eye as I knelt beside him told me he severely doubted that, but he kept his mouth shut and merely shifted into a more comfortable position.

**_Smart boy._**

I took a moment to wipe the rest of my face off, and took a deep breath to try and center myself before asking the question I should've thought about last time. "I forgot to ask, the last time we spoke. What's your name?"

"I'm Uch-," he started, before rapidly retreating and trying again, "…I'm Obito."

My eyebrow rose. That had _not_ been what he was about to say, and I'd bet every scrap of lead I had he'd been about to tell me his family name. Whoever they were, they must've been important. "Just Obito?"

A pregnant pause hung in the air. He squared his shoulders, which looked ridiculous, lying down as he was, and insisted, "My family name isn't important."

"Is that so," I drawled wryly. His eye held a mulish glint, and after a moment I shrugged. "Well, I suppose it can't be helped." 「I」was soberingly quiet this time. I sighed, wearily resigning myself to 「My」verbal tics. "I'm not actually all that interested anyway, to be honest."

That seemed to catch him off-guard. He blinked, before asking hesitantly, "Then… what _are_ you interested in?"

I sighed again, shifting my legs up so I could wrap my arms around them and rest my forehead against my knees. "Later," I replied, suddenly tired, "I'm not in the mood for questions right now."

Obito was silent for a long minute before he asked quietly, "What should I call you?"

I hesitated. 「We」were surprisingly quiet, for once. 「We」had a name, of course, and more than that, a 「Name」, but my… little breakdown was too raw for any of 「us」to really be comfortable using it right now. I really appreciated that 「we」were willing to give me that space, but it didn't help me answer his question. I couldn't remember any other name.

"Call me…"

「I」finally suggested a name, really more of a title, that 「I」held, in another time. In another world.

"…Call me Āchā."


End file.
